


Hold Me

by TheArchaeologist



Series: That Funny Thing Called Grief [2]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: A little gore, Angst, Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie) Spoilers, Blood, Drama, Family, Feels, Fix-it fic, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Infinity War spoilers, Injury, Loki will live if it kills me, Neck injury, Post-Avengers: Infinity War Part 1 (Movie), so many feels
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-30
Updated: 2018-04-30
Packaged: 2019-04-30 04:11:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 926
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14488521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheArchaeologist/pseuds/TheArchaeologist
Summary: As Thor is beginning to wonder if he and Tony should head into Wakanda with the rest of the crowd, a certain cape gets other ideas.





	Hold Me

As the blurriness of his vision clears, and the lump in his throat becomes slightly less choking, Thor offers Tony a tight smile.

“Come,” His voice croaks, forcing him to clear this throat between words, “We should join the others. I do not know what happened between you and the Captain, but I am sure-” Thor cuts off with a jerk as a familiar red cape suddenly springs around his wrist, yanking hardly and practically snapping his arm out of its socket.

“Hey!” Tony yells, waving his hands at the cape. “Down! Sit!”

Regaining his footing, Thor pulls his arm against the cloak. “Where is your master?” The only response he receives is the incessant tugging, which tells him little.

“Oi, hey,” Tony starts clicking his fingers, making the cape pause and regard him (if a cape can be described as ‘regarding’ someone). “Does this mean he’s…” He does not finish the question, but the way the cape bobs seems to give Tony answer enough.

“Stark?” Thor questions uneasily.

“Point Break,” Something in Tony’s gaze is lighter than before, and he puts a hand against Thor’s shoulder. Thor had forgotten how much shorter the man was. “I didn’t say anything because…We weren’t sure he was going to make it. I didn’t want to get your hopes up-”

“Stark.” His tone is harder now, sterner, and far too reminiscent of his father. Thor blocks that thought.

“When we travelled through the wreckage, we found Loki.” Tony says, and for a second Thor is sure his heart stops working. His breath catches his throat.

“O-Oh.” He stammers, “I see…” 

The cape tugs again, and Thor blinks at it slowly.

Tony’s words slowly begin to register.

His mouth asks the question before his mind fully comprehends. “What do you mean you didn’t want to get my hopes up?”

“He was alive, Thor.” Tony’s eyes are serious, lacking any spark of jest. “Injured. Badly. But he was alive. And if cape-y here has come to find you, that means he’s going to make it.”

“You joke.” Thor says softly, shaking his head at Tony. “Surely…Thanos broke his _neck_ , Stark, I watched his limbs fall limp. Please, do not tease me on such-”

“Thor.” Tony cuts in, wounded. “Thor, buddy, I don’t kid on stuff like this. Trust me.”

“I…No, I…”

“C’mon.” Tony’s hand moves down to his wrist, giving a small pull in the same direction as the cape. “C’mon let’s go find him.”

Thor blames the lack of sleep as Tony and the cape easily get him moving on unsteady legs. Really, he has not rested since before the battle for Asgard against Hela. In fact, no, it was before even then. The ride from Sakaar to Asgard had been uneasy, and although he had attempted to rest his head he had been unable to fall into any form of sleep, and instead had simply laid there staring at the ceiling. And before then, when he was prisoner of the arena, Thor had been too tense to settle in the gladiator cells, too afraid of someone attacking in the night, too anxious for Asgard, too emotionally distraught over losing his father.

So the last night Thor had slept was before meeting Doctor Strange, before ousting his brother as a usurper king, and before his fight with Surtur. It was the night before he got captured and locked in a cell with only a skeleton for company, beside a campfire after a meal of…Something. He had hunted it, Thor could remember that, but what the creature had been was a long lost memory.

They near a small crowd consisting of Banner, Strange and young boy Thor does not know. Strange is bent over a prone figure, twisted spells covering his hands as he focuses energy at the neck of the person. Said person has an arm raised to his neck as well, very faint wisps of green sourcing from a shaking hand to the badly bruised and bloodied skin.

“Mr Stark!” The boy exclaims, moving towards them.

The cape unwinds itself from Thor’s wrist, floating smoothly towards its master and settling on Strange’s shoulders. The man does not even blink at it.

Tony is saying something to him, but Thor does not listen.

“Loki…”

The figure strewn across the ground is a mess. Scorch marks are burned deep into the leather clothing, the tatty remains of what was once a long cape now little more than a flimsy piece of fabric. Exposed skin is both red and stretched from fresh wounds, bruises and soot smudging the far too pale face of…

“Loki…” Thor is stumbling forward without realising, knees buckling beneath him and thumping painfully against the hard earth. He reaches out, numb fingers finding a quivering, shivering hand as cold as ice. 

Loki’s chest is moving, jerking, _breathing_ , as if he is both extremely cold and completely terrified. His eyes, _oh those eyes_ , are crimson from blood. 

“Careful.” Doctor Strange says evenly, still concentrating on this circular spells. “The damage to his neck is extensive.”

“How…” Thor mewls pathetically. “How did he…” The hand he holds begins to slowly grasp back, and Thor allows his words to trail off. Later, he tells himself, later he will question, when Loki is not so damaged, not so broken and marred and fragile.

Dazed eyes, lost and confused and scared, dip down from their vacant stare at the sky to meet his, and Thor vows he will have to be killed before he lets his brother go again.

**Author's Note:**

> Loki is alive and this is 100% canon and no one can convince me otherwise


End file.
